


And More

by LiveLaughLovex



Series: Olivia and Jake Campaign Trail Fics [4]
Category: Scandal (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Post Season 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-09 16:06:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12279891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex
Summary: It's always different in the morningORthe one where Jake and Olivia wake up to a different world than the one they fell asleep in.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is also posted on Fanfiction. It took me six months to put it up on here. I really hope you enjoy it despite that.

Olivia Pope blinked tiredly when light flooded the hotel room and reached the bed that she was tucked into, reaching a hand towards her head to run her fingers through her wayward curls and wincing when they became caught in the tangled strands. She ran her other hand over her face, blinking continuously for approximately fifteen seconds. It wasn't until she was able to blink without discomfort due to dryness of the eyes that she finally took time to notice the human furnace known as Jake Ballard occupying the other side of the bed that was most definitely not hers. It was at that exact moment that she began to panic. She was a fixer, after all. She fixed things and people and situations, and she should have learned her lesson about sleeping with the male member of a Republican presidential ticket. In that bed with Jake, though, they weren't Campaign Manager Pope or Admiral Ballard; they were them. After so long apart, it had felt so right to be them that Olivia hadn't considered anything other than becoming lost in that moment with him and allowing him to find her as he always did. Then again, time and past experience had taught them both that many things could change between the night of and the morning after.

The thing was, Olivia didn't do things without thinking about them for long periods of time. In fact, most people would be right in their assumptions that she overthought most-if not all-of her cases, her friendships, and her relationships. It was probably one of the problems that had carried over from the traumatic childhood; being able to trust people just because they cared for her and seemed trustworthy was nearly impossible to her. Abby, Huck, Quinn, Harrison, Stephen, and even Marcus had proven their loyalty to Olivia and to OPA multiple times in the past; that was why she had deemed them all to be worthy of her trust. That was also why none of this made sense, because while Jake wasn't an employee at OPA, he had proven that he was loyal to Olivia no matter the circumstances dozens of times in the past. Hell, he had been shot and stabbed and turned into a version of himself that she knew he had hated because of her, and he still looked at her with a kind of absolute trust that she wasn't altogether certain she deserved from him after everything that had happened in the past. So the question wasn't whether he was worth having faith in. The question was why his faith in her had never once completely broken, and yet her faith in him had never once completely developed. Unfortunately, that was not going to be an easy question to answer.

Jake shifted in the bed, pulling her attention away from her own rather depressing mental dialogue, and she flashed him what she hoped was a cheerful smile when he sleepily blinked open those green eyes that she had been lost in the night before. He raised an eyebrow at her as he rolled over onto his back, exposing his naked chest, and she had to bite back the urge to press a kiss over his heart when he did so. "You're thinking very loudly over there, Miss Pope. It's keeping me from getting my rest," he deadpanned, tossing an arm carelessly across his face to cover his eyes. He blinked up at her when she yanked his arm away so that he would be forced to look at her. "What?" he questioned, arching an eyebrow at her.

"Jake, we are in the same bed. No, we are not just in the same bed; it's worse than that. We are naked in the same bed. How are you so calm?" Olivia questioned frantically.

"Um..." He looked at her like she was crazy. "You do remember that we lived together for two months, right? This isn't that abnormal for us."

"The election is tomorrow. Tomorrow, the American people are going to be voting. We can't be naked in the same bed together," Olivia explained, eyeing him as though he was an idiot. In all fairness, though, he was acting like one. "You have a wife. A beautiful, educated, Republican wife, a wife whose bed you usually share. You don't see even the slightest problem with being a Republican and waking up naked next to someone other than your wife?"

"Considering I don't wake up naked beside my wife and I am apolitical, no," Jake dragged out slowly. "Olivia, what are you panicking about? I'm two days away from being divorced." His eyes hardened. "Unless this has nothing to do with her and everything to do with you, in which case it makes total sense." He scoffed as he rolled out of the bed. She refused to allow herself to be distracted by his nakedness as he glared down at her. "Are you pissed that we slept together? Are you scared that it might mean as much to you as it does to me? What... what is going on here?"

"You are running as the Republican candidate for the Vice Presidency, Jake!" Olivia replied, raising her voice slightly.

He stared at her in confusion and anger. "Yes, I am. Guess what, Olivia? I was running as the Vice President when you were underneath me last night, too." She scoffed and threw the covers away, and Jake followed her when she entered the bathroom. She slammed the door in his face, but he continued to speak anyway. "No, Olivia, I was running as Vice President last night. I was married last night. I was a Republican last night. Nothing has changed, so why are you acting like everything has?"

She threw open the door. "Do you not remember what happened last time I fell in love with a politician holding the White House? Did you not watch the news at all for six weeks?" He blinked at her, and she sighed. "I am not made to be the First Lady of the United States, Jake."

"First of all, you'd be the Second Lady. Second of all, fine. Let Mellie get into office, and I'll resign my post before the end of the first week." When Olivia stared at him incredulously, Jake smirked without even a hint of amusement. "You know I would do it. You just don't want me to."

"You worked for this, Jake," Olivia protested weakly. "You shouldn't give it up."

"I did work for this, but it wasn't because of me. This isn't my dream. It's yours, and it's hers, and so I did what had to be done to endear myself to the public, because Melody Grant will make a damn good president and I want that kind of leader for this country, and I wanted to be free of your father, so I went along with the plan. But right now, I hate that I did, because if I hadn't..." He trailed off. "If I hadn't, then last night wouldn't have happened, and I wouldn't have let myself fall for you for the thousandth time, and I wouldn't be standing here once again begging you to choose me. If I hadn't, then I wouldn't have let myself believe for the millionth time that you might actually want me, all of me, without the limitations." His smile was anything but happy. "You may have said what you did that day because your father threatened you, but there was a hint of truth in every word. You will always leave me, and I will always forgive you for it. And you were mostly right, Liv, because I can forgive you for not believing in me. I can forgive you for not believing in us. But the reason you refuse to take that final jump, the reason you refuse to let go of logic in any form to be happy, it isn't because you don't believe in me or us. It's because you don't believe in yourself. And I just don't think that I can forgive you for that." He backed away from her and headed for the hotel door. "Feel free to shower. I suppose that I will see you tomorrow at the party, Liv. After all, you are our campaign manager."

"Jake," she called after him. "I'm sorry," she murmured when he turned towards her.

He flashed her a sad smile. "Don't be, Olivia. Loving you is always going to be the greatest thing that I've ever done. That's not going to change, even if you never love me back." With that, the door closed behind him, and Olivia was left staring after him, tears in her eyes and regret on her mind.

How the hell had she managed to screw this up so massively two times in a row?


	2. Chapter 2

Olivia Pope had never been the kind of girl (or the kind of woman) to cry over boys. Sure, she had had that melodramatic phase early on in her adolescence where she believed that her self-worth was tied to what those of the opposite gender thought of her; she was pretty sure that every young girl did. But after she had reached adulthood, she had just stopped caring. That didn't mean that boys hadn't been interested; after all, she had been engaged once, and her second serious relationship was broadcast on international television screens. But when your mother supposedly dies in a plane crash before you reach your teenage years and your father ships you off to Europe just so he won't have to look at you, you kind of have more important things to worry about than whether or not some boy whose family is insanely rich and equally arrogant is going to ask you to the spring dance or to prom. And honestly, Olivia Pope may have been interested in boys and then in men in her lifetime, but the fact that she was attracted to them didn't make them any less exhausting. So while she was usually upset when a relationship ended, she didn't feel the need to waste her time crying in filthy bathrooms or in front of the television with a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in front of her. She didn't really feel a need to mourn boys acting like society taught them to act when she was in her youth, and she didn't really feed a need to mourn her adult relationships ending when she turned eighteen. For a while, she had assumed that that was how she was always going to feel. Then, of course, she met Jake Ballard, and Jake Ballard changed everything, so she should have expected that he would change this, too. Jake Ballard wasn't a boy. This wasn't mutual. And if she lost him, if she truly lost him, then that would be something to mourn.

It was Election Day. Before the end of the night, the American people would elect the forty-fifth president to to serve the people and speak for their interests. Olivia had been watching the news coverage all day, and she didn't plan to stop anytime soon. Mellie was up in all of the most recent polls, even holding a rather sizable edge about Vargas in California, a state that typically went blue. She was also up in every single one of the traditional swing states. If the early results were any indication, the United States of America and its people would soon see their first directly-elected female President. Olivia should have been over the moon about everything that was going on around her. Instead, she just sat on the sofa in the residence and stared at a wall, too anxious and too upset to move.

They were in Washington, D.C. (more importantly, they were in the White House) for the Election Night celebration being hosted by Fitz and Vice President Ross. Naomi was going to make her first public appearance as the First Girlfriend that night, which was not something Olivia was jealous of at all. Even if she had been jealous of the relationship, she certainly wouldn't have been jealous of the constant media attention that both of its adult, consenting members got on a daily basis. Because the stress of appearing before the world was very close to making her break out into hives, Naomi had called in Olivia for help, which meant that Olivia was extremely early for a party that she was supposed to be fashionably late for. Oh, well. If things with Jake kept going the way that they had the day before, then she wouldn't mind hiding out in the back of the residency for a while until the coast was clear.

She and Jake hadn't really spoken since that argument in his hotel room, which was probably for the best. They didn't have much left to say to one another, except for the fact that they had everything left to say to one another. Well, that wasn't completely true. She had everything left to say to him. He had already said his piece to her. He was free. She only wished that she could be happy that he wasn't miserable all of the time anymore, but she had seen him happy that night, the night during which everything changed, and she wasn't exactly willing to accept content from Jake Ballard anymore. She also wasn't exactly willing to jump out of an airplane without a parachute, which was what a relationship with the Vice President of the United States was likely to feel like. And Jake was going to be the Vice President of the United States. There were a lot of things that Olivia Pope could fix and a lot of things that she could change, but making him a lesser man or a lesser candidate was just inconceivable to her.

She was pulled from her thoughts when the slight click of heels echoed in the hallway, and she glanced up to see an anxious Mellie in front of her. The Republican presidential candidate shot her a small smile as she paced back and forth, her black patent leather pumps making contact with the hardwood floors with every step, and Olivia gestured for her to adjust the peplum jacket that was the top half of the Moschino skirt suit that she had picked to wear for the day until the party later that night. The red looked very presidential on Mellie, and Olivia made a side note to have Jake and Mellie pose for a picture to be posted on the campaign's official Twitter account via Quinn later that afternoon. For that moment, though, she just quirked an eyebrow at the nervous senator in front of her and waited for her to speak.

"What if we lose?" Mellie blurted after a few moments, causing Olivia to sigh deeply. "No, Liv, I know that the polls are… but the polls showed that I was going to kill Hollis Doyle in the primaries back in March, and they were wrong then." She continued to pace. "I just… if I'm going to be disappointed tonight, I need you to let me know."

"I slept with Jake," Olivia replied offhandedly, causing Mellie's eyes to fly towards her. "So if you want to know the right thing to do, the right thing to expect, you shouldn't be asking me. Because he expected that to mean something to me. And it did, but it didn't mean enough. I'm still trapped. I'm still drowning. This campaign is the only thing that's keeping me afloat right now, which means that it's the better campaign with the better candidate. That's the only answer I can give you right now, Mellie, because what's supposed to happen…" Olivia sighed, finally looking into her friend's eyes. "I don't think believing in fate is any more than a waste of time most days."

Mellie approached her and sank onto the sofa next to her. "You slept with Jake?" she questioned blankly.

"Yes," Olivia replied softly.

"And then you told him you couldn't be together?" Mellie asked, her voice still blank.

"Yes, because he's… Mellie, odds are that he's going to be Vice President very, very soon. And I cannot be the Second Lady of this nation," Olivia reminded her. "Remember what happened when Fitz and I tried?"

"If I remember correctly, Fitz packed up all of your things in the middle of the night after it became obvious to him that you and I had broken the law to allow your father out of prison in an effort to halt the impeachment hearings and therefore protect all of us," Mellie stated slowly. "I think there's a big difference between that and sleeping with someone and then waking them up in the morning just so that they can watch you leave."

"He had the Oval. He still does, but he had the Oval," Olivia tried to explain. Because she was just about the unluckiest person on the planet, Fitz and Naomi chose that moment to walk into the room, which meant that FItz caught the tail end of that particular sentence. Olivia groaned internally when he looked towards her with confusion and then glanced towards his ex-wife in search of an explanation it was obvious he didn't think he was going to get from her campaign manager. Because Mellie was Mellie, she gave it willingly, the annoyance shining through in her tone.

"Olivia slept with Jake, and now she's trying to explain to me why that's a bad thing," the former First Lady informed her ex-husband.

Fitz raised an eyebrow. "There's never a boring moment between the two of you, is there?" To Olivia's relief, she didn't detect anger or annoyance in his voice; he just sounded amused and curious. "Why is she explaining why it's a bad thing?"

"Because Jake told her that he loved her, and she told him she couldn't be Second Lady," Mellie explained further, causing Olivia to glare at her. "What?" she questioned innocently.

"That is not at all how it went down, okay? We woke up, and I panicked, and then we fought, and then he left. His own hotel room. He left his own hotel room. And then I showered and changed to get on the plane, and now here we are." Olivia leaned back against the couch. "And why does Fitz need to know all of this?"

"Because Fitz is very good at giving advice," Naomi replied, causing Olivia's eyes to dart towards her. She faked a glare at the betrayal. "What? Did you or did you not have to come help him pick out a tie for our first date? You're the ex, that had to be awkward. He can feel his share of awkwardness now."

"What is this, Gang Up On Men Day?" Fitz protested, but he still had a smile on his face. "I don't exactly know how to fix this one for you, Liv. I think you're going to have to fix it yourself."

"Well, I don't know where Jake is," Olivia tried to object, but all three adults refused to allow her to do so.

"Basketball court," they informed her simultaneously. And that response sent her excuse straight out of the window.

Olivia stood outside of the basketball court five minutes later. She knew that Jake was inside; one of the Secret Service agents had already offered to escort her in. She just needed to gear up the willpower to have this conversation.

"Liv," Jake greeted when she finally managed to do so ten minutes later. He shot a teasing smile in her direction. "Though Secret Service was going to report you for loitering."

"I'm awful in awkward situations," Olivia informed him matter-of-factly. "I usually do everything I can to avoid them." She easily caught the ball he tossed towards her and took a shot of her own, beaming with pride when the ball went effortlessly into the hoop.

Jake wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "Then why aren't you avoiding this one?"

"Because I don't want to avoid this one. Because I know that I can't avoid this one. About a hundred other reasons that seemed perfectly logical when I wasn't in here with you and your shirtless figure. I mean, honestly, it's just not fair that you can just distract me with your abs," Olivia stated, shaking her head to clear her mind. "Which is not why I came in here." She cleared her throat. "I was wondering if you needed a date to the inauguration in two months. Your divorce will be finalized, you'll be in the clear. What do you say?"

Jake looked at her in surprise. "Olivia, what's happening?" he questioned suspiciously. Okay, so maybe he didn't completely trust her yet. She couldn't really blame him for that.

"I realized that everything I have done for the past ten years of my life has either been in service of or against my father," Olivia stated evenly. "I'm tired of living that way." She sighed. "You were right. I don't know how to believe that I know how to do this. I mean, let's look at my recent dating history. First there was Edison; my father put him in the hospital. Then there was Fitz; my father put his son in the cemetery. Then there's you; my father put you in a wedding chapel. Other than Russell, who, you know, turned out to be a murderous sociopath under the control of my father who wasn't at all charming or stubborn of capable of loving or being loved, my father has had a hand in ending all of my relationships. And I've been so scared of him for so long, but fear makes you feel alive. That's why people jump out of airplanes, right?" Olivia didn't even wait for a response. "What I'm saying is, I'm ready to live my life, Jake. And I would love it if I could live that life with you."

Jake smiled slightly, his hands framing her face the moment that he was close enough to her. "I promise you that it would be my pleasure, Ms. Pope."

-Olivia & Jake-

11:45 P.M.

White House Residence

Victory Party of Senator Melody Grant

"That's it, the results are in, and Melody Grant is the forty-fifth president of the Unite States!"

"The Grant Campaign must be thrilled this evening!"

"History was made tonight!"

As Olivia watched the news reports with a beaming smile on her face, she couldn't help but glance in Jake's direction. He looked away from a chattering Teddy and shot her a wink. She turned away with a blissful sigh.

Yes, history had been made that night, in more ways than one, and while the world may never have an opportunity to remember what had transpired between Olivia and Jake that day, she knew that she would never forget that.


End file.
